Mercurysteam – VG247http://www.vg247.com
VG247.comFri, 09 Dec 2016 21:47:52 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.3Raiders of the Broken Planet, from the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow devs, gets a trailerhttp://www.vg247.com/2016/06/14/raiders-of-the-broken-planet-from-the-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-devs-gets-a-trailer/
http://www.vg247.com/2016/06/14/raiders-of-the-broken-planet-from-the-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-devs-gets-a-trailer/#respondTue, 14 Jun 2016 06:02:53 +0000https://www.vg247.com/?p=588022Raiders of the Broken Planet, the new game from MercurySteam, has been revealed.

Raiders of the Broken Planet is the new game from the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow devs

The game was first revealed a month ago. It was shown off in the indie reel during Microsoft’s E3 showcase, but it’s also coming to PC and PS4. It’s an asymmetrical online adventure game, where players can either go in solo against their enemies or team up with other players. MercurySteam are planning on running several betas for the game.

A press release sent out by the developers promised that there will be a lot more information ‘in the months to come’.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2016/06/14/raiders-of-the-broken-planet-from-the-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-devs-gets-a-trailer/feed/0Raiders of the Broken Planet is MercurySteam’s new multiplayer online gamehttp://www.vg247.com/2016/04/15/raiders-of-the-broken-planet-is-mercurysteams-new-multiplayer-online-game/
http://www.vg247.com/2016/04/15/raiders-of-the-broken-planet-is-mercurysteams-new-multiplayer-online-game/#respondFri, 15 Apr 2016 16:41:31 +0000https://www.vg247.com/?p=578764After a year of teasing, MercurySteam has announced its sci-fi adventure game, and it’s called Raiders of the Broken Planet.

Raiders of the Broken Planet is MercurySteam’s new multiplayer online game

Coming to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the game is multiplayer online asymmetric adventure which takes place in the Lira Constellation on a broken planet.

On it is a “powerful ability enhancing substance called Aleph,” the discovery of which attracted “intergalactic scum and criminal lowlife.” The criminals wish to control the substance, and in doing so, control the universe.

Raiders of the Broken Planet will feature players fighting off the invaders in teams or work with the invaders by shooting, brawling, and using strategy.

It also contains a story driven narrative which will be delivered episodically. The developer promises each will be sold at an “extremely low and attractive price point.”

MercurySteam will be self-publishing the game digitally and wants to work closely with players to help shape the game.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2016/04/15/raiders-of-the-broken-planet-is-mercurysteams-new-multiplayer-online-game/feed/0Lords of Shadow team to finally reveal its new game in Aprilhttp://www.vg247.com/2016/03/18/mercurysteam-and-dave-cox-join-forces-for-new-game-to-be-announced-in-april/
http://www.vg247.com/2016/03/18/mercurysteam-and-dave-cox-join-forces-for-new-game-to-be-announced-in-april/#respondFri, 18 Mar 2016 17:38:29 +0000https://www.vg247.com/?p=575100It’s been a few months since we’ve heard anything from MercurySteam. Nine months ago, it posted a Contra-ish teaser image on it’s website before going quiet.

That silence was broken today when a press release announced the studio had “renewed its relationship” with former Konami Head of Studio and Producer of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series Dave Cox.

The company stated he is now once again working with the studio on a new unannounced project to be revealed in April.

“When I was approached by MercurySteam to get involved in their new project, I jumped at the chance,” said Cox. “It’s been my great fortune and pleasure to work with this talented studio over many years.

“I’m extremely excited about this very ambitious work they’re undertaking. MercurySteam continue to push boundaries and their sheer creative spirit always astounds me. It’s great to be back with my old team mates!”

The teaser site for the upcoming game has also been updated with more art based on the previous one revealed. It’s interactive and features a countdown pointing to April’s announcement.

A new art image has been released and it’s below alongside one which was released on a prior occasion.

Speaking with Spanish website Vadejuegos, the developer – who asked not to be named – confirmed most of the original story’s contents, citing leadership and communication problems issues between the game’s leads and core team.

“The problems we’ve been through are basically those in the original post,” said the developer. “There’s plenty of talented devs [in MercurySteam], though they’re not among the [studio] heads. There’s almost no actual lead in here. The only ones who really have something to say are those who have been here since the early days or those who struggle to please Enric [Álvarez, Mercury Steam CEO].”

In light of yesterday’s report, Álvarez took to Twitter to state that it was “sad [to] see people giving credit to the lies and insults from an enraged ex-worker. What a world we live in.”

The source went on to say that all ideas or decisions were monitored by CEO Álvarez, who also had to sign off on all decisions.

“It isn’t easy to be a creative guy in there, because people’s ideas are never really free to exist,” the source continued. “In fact, they expect you to not give any ideas, they do not like people who do so, causing many big names to leave without a second thought.

“Our art director [José Luis Vaello] went to Tequila and now he is making RIME. He left due to the creative situation here. He was being completely held back and couldn’t force any changes, so he was just like: ‘okay, see ya, good luck with your amazing ideas’, and left the team…”

Conflicts between key members of the studio, per the source’s opinion, were the cause of issues inherent in LoS2, with the developer citing the artwork, stealth mechanic and Dracula’s ability to turn into a rat as just a few examples of internal conflict.

“[Vaello] is the guy who made all the main art for the first Lords of Shadow, but LoS2 is a Frankenstein monster due to the lack of a consistent art lead,” the source stated. “After Vaello left we have had several art directors and there was like some sort of power struggle within the studio heads. That’s why some sections of the game are gorgeous and the newer are not.

“This Castlevania is a weird experience because everybody has been doing their own stuff without a proper lead. Each department has been minding their own businesses without any kind of communication between teams. They deal with people like… they don’t trust you. It’s a very uncomfortable atmosphere, it’s utterly uncreative. They don’t trust anybody.”

The source went on to say that a toxic atmosphere has permeated the studio for over two years, but the developer also insisted that wasn’t always the case: instead, dissidence has been growing slowly inside the studio.

Finally, the developer stated that they were unaware whether or not Konami was unhappy with the final product or not. The original source from yesterday stated that the publisher was displeased with the release of such a “mediocre” title and stated that “expectations” for the studio’s future were “quite bad.”

Vadejuegos’ source said there was no way to know whether or not this was the case, as lack of communication at the studio lead to “there not being any meetings” and to the staff learning about many things “through the news”.

“We can’t know that. Not yet. We don’t know if [our studio’s relationship with Konami] good or bad at this moment,” they said.

In closing the source stated the six month delay of Lords of Shadow 2 forced the studios to self-fund the extra development time, but Vadejuegos’ other development sources have said the delay wasn’t an unusual occurrence in triple-A development – especially for a game of this size.

Update
A second unnamed source credited as a MercuryStream employee has added their voice to the report, responding to demands that the original source be named and describing MercuryStream’s response to the alleged leaks as a “witch hunt”.

“If you knew just a little about how the games industry works (particularly in Spain), you would remain anonymous as well. At least, if you ever want to work in the industry again. So I completely understand that as mere employees (should I remind everyone what’s the situation in Spain?) they don’t want to reveal their identity. I can also confirm you that most of what’s been said is exactly how everything works in MS,” the second source said.

“I would like to add that the end product looks spectacular to me, you can feel all the passion and effort that everyone has put into it, however on the management side this development has been a complete mess.

“But you’re not going to find someone who’s willing to tell this publicly or even in a private conversation because, as I said, this is a veeery small industry, and life’s just not that easy. There’s a large witch-hunt at this moment in search for the moles that revealed the situation, and that will only turn in even more firings and being blacklisted not to work in the industry here, well, forever. There has been a large reduction in our workforce lately.

“So please show a little respect for those who are risking their asses for what some of you think is just resentment to our boss.”

You can read the entire report through the link above.

Thanks, Miguel.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/03/01/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-dev-steps-forward-to-confirm-troubled-development-reports/feed/8Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 footage shows full ‘Toy-Maker’ boss battlehttp://www.vg247.com/2014/02/05/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-footage-shows-full-toy-maker-boss-battle/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/02/05/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-footage-shows-full-toy-maker-boss-battle/#commentsWed, 05 Feb 2014 08:52:41 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=445955Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 appears to have received some leaked gameplay capture, showing off the game’s Toy-Maker boss fight in full. It shows cut-scenes and plenty of combat, but beware of spoilers.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/02/05/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-footage-shows-full-toy-maker-boss-battle/feed/1MercurySteam’s next title releasing on Xbox One, PS4 and PC, but not Wii Uhttp://www.vg247.com/2014/01/09/mercurysteams-next-title-releasing-on-xbox-one-ps4-and-pc-but-not-wii-u/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/01/09/mercurysteams-next-title-releasing-on-xbox-one-ps4-and-pc-but-not-wii-u/#commentsThu, 09 Jan 2014 17:46:24 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=438935MercurySteam’s next title will be released on Xbox One, PS4 and PC, but not on Wii U, according to the firm’s boss Dave Cox.

Speaking with GameSpot, Cox said the team’s next project will be “completely different” from the Lords of Shadow series, but wouldn’t go into further detail on it.

Cox did state, however, that a number of ideas the team concocted which never made it into Lords of Shadow 2 could be included in the next-gen title.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 will be released on PC, PS3 and 360 on February 25 in the US and February 28 in Europe.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/01/09/mercurysteams-next-title-releasing-on-xbox-one-ps4-and-pc-but-not-wii-u/feed/12This is the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 demo in video formhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/11/02/this-is-the-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-demo-in-video-form/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/11/02/this-is-the-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-demo-in-video-form/#commentsSat, 02 Nov 2013 23:49:46 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=423094If you bought Castlevania: Mirror of Fate HD from PSN or Xbox Live this week, then you were treated to a playable demo for next year’s Lords of Shadow 2. But if you don’t want Mirror of Fate or to spend money for a demo, then you can watch said demo here.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/11/02/this-is-the-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-demo-in-video-form/feed/6Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 gets a very special Halloween trailer, steelbook case at Zavvihttp://www.vg247.com/2013/10/31/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-gets-a-very-special-halloween-trailer-steelbook-case-at-zavvi/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/10/31/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-gets-a-very-special-halloween-trailer-steelbook-case-at-zavvi/#commentsThu, 31 Oct 2013 14:00:07 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=422707Considering the star of Lords of Shadow 2 is Dracula, it only makes sense that on Halloween we’d get a spiffy new trailer. As a bonus, we also learn how you can get a copy of the game in a steelbook case in Europe.

At Zavvi, you’ll be able to snag a steelbook-encased copy of the game, and across Europe and exclusively at GAME in the UK you’ll be able to get the ‘Dracula’s Tomb Premium Edition’, which includes four figurines and an artbook along with the game in a big tomb case. Pictures of those things at the bottom of the post.

Game is out on current-gen and Windows on February 25/28.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/10/31/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-gets-a-very-special-halloween-trailer-steelbook-case-at-zavvi/feed/5Castlevania: Lords of Shadow PC demo drops tomorrowhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/07/30/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-pc-demo-drops-tomorrow/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/30/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-pc-demo-drops-tomorrow/#commentsTue, 30 Jul 2013 01:39:25 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=393054A PC demo for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will become available on Steam tomorrow, MercurySteam announced on Facebook today. The full game finally debuts on PC on August 28. A sequel, Lords of Shadow 2, is due on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November; MercurySteam is eager to show off its work without Hideo Kojima’s input.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/30/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-pc-demo-drops-tomorrow/feed/12Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is MercurySteam ‘on its own’http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/25/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-is-mercurysteam-on-its-own/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/25/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-is-mercurysteam-on-its-own/#commentsThu, 25 Jul 2013 21:36:28 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=392168Hideo Kojima isn’t onboard the sequel to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, but MercurySteam is confident in its abilities.

Producer Dave Cox told OPM that Kojima wasn’t the primary creative involved with the first game, so his absence from the project this time shouldn’t be cause for alarm.

“We loved working with Mr Kojima, but he was onboard in an advisory capacity and I think we proved our abilities with the first Lords Of Shadow,” he said.

“This is us on our own, with a clear vision of where we want to take the story.”

Lords of Shadow 2 stars Dracula, but for mysterious reason surrounding his transportation to a modern-world setting, he’s lots all his powers. Players will be able to recover Dracula’s skillset by exploring the quasi open-world metropolis.

It’s expected in the fourth quarter on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with PC as the lead platform.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/25/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-is-mercurysteam-on-its-own/feed/8Castlevania: Lords of Shadow turns up in Steam registryhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/03/17/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-turns-up-in-steam-registry/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/17/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-turns-up-in-steam-registry/#commentsSun, 17 Mar 2013 21:58:14 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=349874Although the sequel has been confirmed for PC release, there’s been no word of 2010’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow making the jump from consoles. That hasn’t stopped DSOGaming finding the MercurySteam action effort on the Steam registry. I’ve asked Konami for an explanation, but we can probably expect a pile of new intel on the series pretty soon, as the second game is apparently on a press junket at the moment.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/17/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-turns-up-in-steam-registry/feed/3Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 teases VGAs gameplay revealhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/11/28/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-teases-vgas-gameplay-reveal/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/28/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-teases-vgas-gameplay-reveal/#commentsWed, 28 Nov 2012 23:49:19 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=319571Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is set to make its gameplay debut at the VGAs next week.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/28/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-teases-vgas-gameplay-reveal/feed/4Castlevania on 3DS “quite a challenge” but “remarkable”http://www.vg247.com/2012/08/22/castlevania-on-3ds-quite-a-challenge-but-remarkable/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/08/22/castlevania-on-3ds-quite-a-challenge-but-remarkable/#commentsTue, 21 Aug 2012 23:20:09 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=288807Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate developer MercurySteam has nothing but praise for the 3DS despite the difficulties of tackling a whole new platform.

“It was quite a challenge to create new technology. The Mercury Engine, which is the core technology we have, wasn’t ready for 3DS before going into development. So we created it,” MercurySteam’s Enric Alvarez told ONM UK.

“It was challenging because the console is very special, it is very powerful and on top of that it has the stereoscopic capabilities and the two cameras.”

Alvarez said developers have to be careful where the cameras are positioned, and that a 2.5D game raises very specific issues thanks to its fixed camera, like views beyond open windows.

“So I think that it’s a very interesting experience. It’s taken a lot of time to develop, but we’ve managed something remarkable on 3DS,” he said.

“It was a challenge, but we always say at MercurySteam that we’re not afraid of technology, what we’re afraid of is what we do with that technology. How we make it worthwhile to the players.”

Konami producer David Cox said he and MercurySteam wanted to do a handheld game and chose the 3DS because of its stereoscopic capacity, which lends itself to “layers and layers” of 3D.

“And once we got hold of the hardware, we realised what we could do with it. We essentially built an engine from the ground up for the 3DS, we felt that this was the right format,” he said, adding: “Traditionally Castlevania has always appeared on Nintendo formats and that appealed to us as fans of the classic.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/08/22/castlevania-on-3ds-quite-a-challenge-but-remarkable/feed/3MercurySteam reiterates intent to pass the Castlevania torch after Lords of Shadow 2http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/24/mercurysteam-reiterates-intent-to-pass-the-castlevania-torch-after-lords-of-shadow-2/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/24/mercurysteam-reiterates-intent-to-pass-the-castlevania-torch-after-lords-of-shadow-2/#commentsTue, 24 Jul 2012 21:17:10 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=279426MercurySteam producer David Cox has reiterated that the firm plans for Lords of Shadow 2 to go out with a bang, as it has no plans to develop other games in the series once the trilogy ends.

“Our intention is to tell our story and then move on to other things,” Cox told Game Informer. “We have a very interesting tale to tell – a story about Dracula. Our intention was to tackle the story from his perspective and give players an angle on his viewpoint.

“We have no intention of milking the series any further than that. I believe that any story worth telling should have a satisfying ending. This one has exactly that, and once its told I hope our audience will enjoy the saga as a unique and interesting take on the Castlevania mythology.”

Cox previously told VG247 MercurySteam didn’t want to be known as “the Castlevania team,” as there are other “projects and other ideas,” it wants to work on.

“We’ve always felt that when we were given the Castlevania torch, so to speak, that it was never ours to keep,” he said during E3. “Luckily we got the chance to do our thing, but we were surprised by the success of our game and weren’t sure that we were going to get the chance to do another one.

“That’s why there’s the epilogue in the first. However, now that we’ve got the chance to finish the story we really want to do it justice and do something really special.”

Castlevania Lords Of Shadow 2 releases next year.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/24/mercurysteam-reiterates-intent-to-pass-the-castlevania-torch-after-lords-of-shadow-2/feed/8Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate confirmed for 3DShttp://www.vg247.com/2012/05/29/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-mirror-of-fate-confirmed-for-3ds/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/29/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-mirror-of-fate-confirmed-for-3ds/#commentsTue, 29 May 2012 17:56:34 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=262955Nintendo Power has confirmed details on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate for 3DS which is in development at Mercurysteam.

According to the magazine, the game centers around Trevor Belmont and will contain deep combat mechanics featuring secondary weaponry such as the boomerang-styled glaive and electric bombs. Light and shadow magic returns, and experience points unlock new combos..

According to PGN, Lords of Shadow 2, which’ll also come to PS3 and Xbox 360, will interact with 3DS spin-off Mirror of Fate. The 3DS game will apparently use 3DS’s forward-facing camera as a mirror, while the outward camera will help solve puzzles.

Mirror of Fate was also apparently in development for Wii U, but was tossed out for Lords of Shadow 2 instead. The Wii U version of MoF would have been similar to the 3DS SKU.

Both games are in development at MercurySteam, which launched the original Lords of Shadow in 2010 in collaboration with Kojima Productions.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/22/rumour-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-coming-to-wii-u-vita/feed/19Rumour – Castlevania: Mirror of Fate due for E3 revealhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/05/22/rumour-castlevania-mirror-of-fate-due-for-e3-reveal/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/22/rumour-castlevania-mirror-of-fate-due-for-e3-reveal/#commentsTue, 22 May 2012 00:12:30 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=260540The Internet will not rest until it’s outed every E3 2012 surprise, starting with a new 2D Castlevania title for 3DS.

Although the report has since been withdrawn at Konami’s request, Dutch site N1ntendo reported earlier today that a new Castlevania game for 3DS will be shown at E3.

The 2D title is apparently in development at Spanish studio MercurySteam, which also produced Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Rumour suggests the title may be a spin-off or tie-in for an expected sequel to Lords of Shadow.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/22/rumour-castlevania-mirror-of-fate-due-for-e3-reveal/feed/1MercurySteam CEO to give GDC Europe keynotehttp://www.vg247.com/2011/08/05/mercurysteam-ceo-to-give-gdc-europe-keynote/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/05/mercurysteam-ceo-to-give-gdc-europe-keynote/#commentsFri, 05 Aug 2011 09:24:25 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=192038MercurySteam CEO Enric Alvarez is to give a keynote at GDC Europe, organisers ThinkServices has announced this morning. Alvarez will give a post-mortem of the Spanish studio’s development on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, in which he will “share surprising and inspiring insights into how to create not one, but several AAA video game projects from a small studio in Spain.”

GDC Europe happens from August 14-16 in Cologne alongside gamescom.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/05/mercurysteam-ceo-to-give-gdc-europe-keynote/feed/4MGS: Peace Walker, Castlevania help Konami income pushhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/05/12/mgs-peace-walker-castlevania-helps-konami-income-push/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/12/mgs-peace-walker-castlevania-helps-konami-income-push/#commentsThu, 12 May 2011 11:34:16 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=170319Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow helped Konami to an income high last year, the company confirmed in its FY2011 financials.

Operating income was at ¥21 billion (£159 million/$259 million), up from ¥19 billion in the previous year.

Net sales were down at ¥258 billion (£1.9 billion/$3.1 billion) from ¥262 billion last year.

Konami said that sales of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 “progressed favorably,” with the whole PES series now at 70 million sales worldwide.

It added that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow had seen “healthy sales” since its launch last October.

Konami said that production on various titles in the company for NGP is “under way.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/12/mgs-peace-walker-castlevania-helps-konami-income-push/feed/4Castlevania: Lords of Shadow DLC delayed into Marchhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/02/17/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-dlc-delayed-into-march/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/02/17/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-dlc-delayed-into-march/#commentsThu, 17 Feb 2011 06:53:59 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=149163Konami’s announced it’s delayed the release of the first pack of DLC for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow until next month.

The DLC was supposed to release in February.

The content will allow players to control Laura, the daughter of Camillla, as she and Gabriel go on a quest. What the quest actually is isn’t known, but apparently time-travel is involved as Gabriel looking to rectify a past mistake.

“DLC Update: ‘Reverie’ is swinging into March. Our apologies for the delay but it’s going to be worth it,” read a message on the game’s Facebook page.

A second DLC pack, Resurrection, is also in the works, and will take place after the game’s conclusion.

“Resolve the “save game” issues related to user interaction with controller buttons (PlayStation button and SELECT), or disconnection of the controller while the auto-save icon is on-screen. The patch will also offer cosmetic upgrades such as ability for the loading screen text to scroll improving user readability.”

However, Cox admitted the releationship between MS and KP, who were overseeing the project while MercurySteam developed it, didn’t quite turn out to be the way he thought it would.

“There was pressure. It was quite tense. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” he said.

“We thought, oh, we’re going to have to submit everything and he’s going to have a say on everything. He [Hideo Kojima] was clear right from the beginning: this is your baby. You need to run with this. I’m just going to help you. I’ll give you my advice, my experience, mentor you if you like, but it’s your baby.

“A few times we submitted things to them and they said, ‘Well, maybe if you do this, do that.’ Nine times out of 10 we’d try to accommodate what they wanted. But occasionally we couldn’t. If there were technical reasons we’d say we can’t actually do this. I’m really sorry. And they’d go, ‘That’s fine.’

But it’s been great. I knew Kojima from Metal Gear Solid. When Metal Gear Solid was being developed I was a product manager for that. I went out to Japan and I met him and we got to know each other. We had the same interest in films and we got on well.”

When asked to give an example of how the development process worked between MercurySteam and Kojima Productions, Cox added:

“We had big problems with lip-synch and facial animations. We did mocap but we didn’t capture facials. When it came to doing all the lip-synching we were having a nightmare. The Kojima guys came to Spain – they said, ‘We can’t explain this on the phone. We’re going to have to show you.’

“So they brought all the rigs of Snake. Then they showed us how they did it, how they rigged it. They helped us set it up.”

The game is considered to be a franchise reboot, and is not a part of the original series canon.

Lords of Shadow is set during “the end of days” in the year of 1047. The Earth’s alliance with the Heavens has been threatened by a malevolent force known as the Lords of Shadow. Spoiler: you go and kill everything.